System Message Security Level and Example Format

This Simple Explanation from CCNA Official Guide Book is easy to understand System Message Format of Cisco Router. Let ‘s Start.

Let’s examine one of the messages from our Cisco router to examine the default message format:

*Dec 18 17:10:15.079: %LINEPROTO-5-UPDOWN: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/0, changed state to down

Notice that by default on this particular device, we see the following:A timestamp: *Dec 18 17:10:15.079The facility on the router that generated the message: %LINEPROTOThe severity level: 5A mnemonic for the message: UPDOWNThe description of the message: Line protocol on Interface FastEthernet0/0, changed state to down

Turn off timestamps and turn on sequence numbers

R1(config)# no service service timestamps
R1(config)#service sequence-numbers
R1(config)#exit
R1#

000011: %SYS-5-CONFIG_I: Configured from console by console

The message format now features the following:Sequence number: 000011Facility: %SYSSeverity level: 5Mnemonic: Config_IDescription: Configured from console by console

One of the most important ingredients in the system message on a Cisco device is the severity level. This is because we can use severity levels to easily control which messages are sent to which logging destinations.